Orphan Black blew us away last year (you may have seen our Season 1 recaps during the hiatus?) with its riveting performances (led by Tatiana Maslany), brilliant storytelling, and intriguing romances (like Sarah/Paul and Cosima/Delphine). Now it's back for Season 2, and so are our weekly episode recaps. Buckle up—we have a feeling it's going to be quite the ride.

This post contains SPOILERS for all aired episodes of Orphan Black, including last night’s Season 2 finale “By Means Which Have Never Yet Been Tried.” Enjoy!

Welcome to the season finale of Orphan Black. Grab your glass, get comfy, and strap in! It’s one hell of a ride.

Sarah stands in a dark corridor. She is systematically stripped and interrogated over her medical history all while being methodically if hastily examined. Sarah does not resist but rather sits quietly and endures the humiliation. The examiners are faceless; who they are doesn’t matter. “Are you taking any prescription medication?”

Interspersed with this cold inspection is the heated argument Siobhan and Sarah are having in Mrs. S.’s parlor, presumably right before Sarah turned herself in. Their fight is in the fuzzy background as a devastated and still slightly drugged Felix sits in the foreground trying to come to grips with his unwilling part in Kira’s abduction.

Early morning sunlight filters in through the front window, surrounding the women in a soft glow that could just as easily be generated by the heat of their argument. “In the first place, giving her bone marrow… the child!” Siobhan shouts. “She’s 8-years-old!” Sarah shouted reply is too muffled to discern. “I should’ve known,” Fee self-flagellates. More faded snippets of Sarah and Siobhan’s argument filter through. “What are you talking about?!” Siobhan yells. “She is gone because of you!” Sarah accuses. “You’ve been giving me that attitude for half your life!” Siobhan shouts back. “What, do you think that’s easy for me?!” Sarah yells. “I should’ve seen it,” Fee whispers. “She is 8-years-old, she doesn’t get a choice in any of this!” Siobhan snaps at Sarah.

“What is your sexual orientation?” “Do you now or have you ever used intravenous drugs?” “How many sexual partners have you had?” “Are you ovulating?” Sarah responds to this one while her eyes are checked: “I don’t know.” “Are you ovulating?” the interrogator snaps a second time. This is a key question. “I don’t know!” Sarah shouts back.

“I left her with you for five bloody minutes!” Sarah screams at Siobhan. The previews had Siobhan yelling back “you left her with me for 8 years!” but that must’ve been cut as here Siobhan hollers into Sarah’s face “She looked like you! I cannot go over it again and again, Sarah.” Siobhan breaks and starts to cry. So clever, so tough, and yet scammed by her daughter’s doppelganger. “I thought it was you! She looked like you! She was with…” But Sarah cuts her off by suddenly throwing herself at Siobhan and embracing her, a move that completely surprised me and instantly made perfect sense. They’re getting nowhere. They’re both wrecked by what’s happened and both know the true villain here is Rachel. Siobhan clutches Sarah tight.

“When did you first have sexual intercourse?” Sarah duly answers that she was 14 or 15 at the time. “Have you ever had an STD? Have you ever been diagnosed with a reproductive disorder?” No to both. During this questioning, faceless techs comb through Sarah’s hair, take a swab from her mouth, take her temperature in her ear, and take blood from her arm. She’s not a person. She’s a subject. “Have you ever had an abortion?” Sarah doesn’t answer. “Have you ever had an abortion?!” the interrogator repeats with deliberate emphasis. “Yeah,” Sarah answers, voice breaking. Wait, really? Before or after Kira? I’m guessing before and, if so, was that one of the reasons why she kept Kira? Or was it Vic the Dick’s child? And not also is she the only clone so far to be able to reproduce, but now she had not one but two pregnancies? My head just exploded from the implications. I have the feeling that’s not the last time that’ll happen during this episode. “Have you ever been diagnosed with mental illness?” Sarah replies in the negative as tears roll down her face. “Do you use birth control?” Sometimes. Oh Sarah.

“Be strong, child,” Siobhan says softly into Sarah’s hair. Sarah pulls back, calmer now and resolute. “I don’t know whose side you’re on, but I know you always put Kira first.” Siobhan exhales with relief and nods. “And we’ll do that now,” she replies firmly. Sarah nods. She already knows how she’s going to do that. Siobhan hurriedly adds that they first have to get Felix checked out by a doctor. She goes to check on the miserable Fee and tells him they have to get a toxicology test done on him. Won’t that be fun to read. “Not a chance, I’m fine,” Fee says weakly. Sarah watches from a distance and Siobhan’s voice breaks as she frets that they don’t know what Fee has had. She turns to Sarah to convince her brother to go to the doctor only to watch her daughter grab her jacket and stalk out into the night to trade herself for Kira.

Sarah sits on a chair in the middle of a blackened room but for the blinding florescent light that shines on her. “My name is Sarah Manning,” she begins. A voice outside the light orders her to speak up. Sarah ducks her head, probably to squelch the automatic impulse to tell them to fuck off. “My name is Sarah Manning,” she obediently repeats instead albeit louder, “and this is my unconditional surrender.”

Credtis.

Shaazbot.

Handcuffed and wearing amorphous scrubs, Sarah sits at an interrogation table. Behind her, two screens reflect her image, telling us everything is being recorded. The room is demonstrably like the one Rachel used in last week’s episodes to watch her home movies. The glass doors swish open to admit a security guard who sets a chair across the table from Sarah. He’s immediately followed by a new Older White Guy who calmly takes a digital recorder and folder from his briefcase and lays them on the table. With deliberate movements, he removes a contract from the folder and puts it on the table before Sarah, setting an expensive pen on top of it. Jacket neatly hitched on the back of his chair, he takes his seat and crosses his arms on the table before him as he contemplates Sarah. It’s a testament to what this show has taught me to expect that my immediate reaction to this man is, “now who the fuck are you?”

He greets Sarah as though they’re meeting for tea and introduces himself as Dr. Nealon before he turns on the recorder. “Nice to see you again.” Sarah notes his use of “again” and the doctor admits that at their first encounter, he thought she was Beth Childs until the blood work told them otherwise. Interesting that they can tell the difference between the clones through their blood work when they’re genetically identical. Sarah realizes he’s one of the doctors who came into the condo to examine her while she slept. “I’m glad that will no longer be necessary,” Doctor Nealon casually notes as he reads through the results of her examination. “You began menstruation very young,” he observes. Sarah closes her eyes and wearily shakes her head. “Look, I’m gonna cooperate, but I want to see my kid.” Nealon offhandedly says that Kira is fine. “You have my word.” Why that should have any weight when she’s only just met him and already he’s admitted to violating her privacy and her body while she slept is reasoning only a jackhole like him can understand.

In the Very Pink Room, a tech is trying to get a mouth swab from Kira who refuses to open her mouth. You tell ‘em, kid. Or not as the case may be here. The tech sits on the bed next to her and asks please. Reluctantly, Kira opens her mouth, but as the tech goes to put the swab in the sterile test tube, Kira lifts the mobile from her pocket. Gotta love that kid. After the tech leaves, Kira ducks under her covers and calls her dad.

In the Sweet Science Crib, Martin’s minions pack up Cosima’s research as Scott vehemently if futilely objects. Cosima pleads with Martin that they just finished processing that material. Martin reveals that’s the reason why Cosima’s transplant has already been booked. “The marrow is being sent directly to Dr. Nealon.” This is news to Cosima. “Doctor Cormier didn’t tell you?” Martin replies. “This is all on Rachel’s orders.” I just bet it is.

Rachel and Delphine are in an elevator with a silent security guard at their back. Delphine learns she is being transferred to Frankfurt. “Effective immediately, you will no longer be working with the clones,” Rachel intones without emotion. When Delphine asks what will happen if she refuses, Rachel repeats that she will be on the plane with the barely suppressed subtext of even if you have to be drugged, tied up, and carried on it against your will. “You have everything you wanted,” Delphine accuses tearfully. “Everything Dyad wanted,” Rachel coldly corrects. “You used me!” Delphine cries, which, please, lady you knew exactly what you were getting into. She begs to be allowed to say goodbye to Cosima. Rachel shakes her head and promises that Cosima will be well cared for, “and Sarah’s procedure is imminent.” Wait, what fucking procedure?! Rachel glances scornfully at Delphine who gapes at her. “You forget, Dr. Cormier, none of this is personal.” That’s rich considering how all of this is very personal for Rachel. “I love her,” Delphine vows as the doors open and Rachel exits, “and if you let her die without me, it is personal.” Rachel pauses and then walks away without another word. The doors close on a thoughtful Delphine as she pulls out her mobile.

Down in the SSC, Cosima sits on her hospital bed and focuses on breathing while Scott works on Martin. “No one is more familiar with her illness than Delphine. We need her.” Martin tells him Nealon has all of Delphine’s records and that Cosima will get the best possible care. “She had the best possible care! You took it away!” Scott snaps as Cosima’s laptop chimes with an incoming message from Eskimo Pie marked URGENT, which says “It’s up to you now.” What a treat to see Scott find his spine for Cosima much like Donnie located his for Alison. He’s doesn’t even hesitate to go toe-to-toe on her behalf. Annoyed, partly I think because he’s grown fond of Cosima. I mean how could you spend time with her and not grow fond of Cosima, right? Anyway, annoyed, Martin reminds Scott that the situation is not up for debate. “If you wish to remain involved…,” he threatens mildly. Cosima opens the attachment on Delphine’s message (who else would use the handle Eskimo Pie?) and intervenes before Scott’s new backbone gets him Dyad-ed. “Can you tell Dr. Nealon that I am really excited to work with him?” Scott frowns at her while Martin nods and shoots Scott a see? She gets it, you idiot look. Cosima asks if there’s anything she can do for Sarah and now Scott’s frown turns from are you nuts? to the more contemplative what are you up to now? “I just don’t want anyone to get hurt. Maybe if I can’t see Sarah, then I could see Kira?” she asks. “You know she’s a little kid. It’d be a nice gesture from you guys. You know? We can foster…cooperation.” Martin agrees to see what he can do and Cosima thanks him.

As Martin leaves, Scott joins Cosima and asks what she’s up to. Cosima admits she doesn’t know yet. “Cosima? We should really leave,” Scott says and now the fear shows. She agrees, “But they’re planning something for Sarah.” She shows him Delphine sent her Rachel’s itinerary, which includes Sarah’s procedure scheduled for 1700 hours, or 2 PM for those of us in the States, so they know where she’s going to be and where Sarah’s going to be. They can work with that.

Back in the black box, Nealon tells Sarah Dyad wants to harvest her eggs when she begins to ovulate in 16 days. This shit barely even fazes Sarah anymore. She tells him she’d like to see Kira and Nealon promises that will happen as soon as she signs the consent form he laid on the table when he arrived. She holds out her handcuffed hands and asks if it really matters if she signs her consent. “Bureaucracy,” he tsks. Sarah gazes at the document for a moment but there’s really no choice. She signs it with a flair and demands to be taken to Kira.

In the Very Pink Room, Kira pours tea for her stuffed animals. Sarah is let into another black room with a two-way mirror into the Very Pink Room. As she watches, Rachel enters Kira’s room, calling her sweetheart. She asks is Kira is comfortable. “Is my mum here?” Kira asks immediately, not playing Rachel’s game. Rachel dissembles that she hopes Sarah will be there soon. Her gaze flicks once to the oval mirror hanging on the wall. Yeah, she definitely knows Sarah is on the other side. Rachel sits on the bed beside Kira. “The last time I saw your mother, she laid hands on me,” Rachel says though her words are for Sarah. Kira doesn’t know what that means. “It means she wasn’t very nice to me.” But none of this is personal, right? “And then she kept running away. Just as she ran from you so many times. Did that make you sad?” Kira says it did, “but she says she’s all grown up now.” Rachel smiles weakly and strokes Kira’s face. “I hope she is,” she says. Sarah watches, pained to hear the truth of her past and what Kira has had to endure because of her actions. And more determined than ever, I think, to do whatever is necessary to save her daughter. Rachel strolls over to the mirror. On the right is Sarah’s reflection; on the left, Rachel’s image. “Even mothers have to do what they’re told sometimes,” Rachel says to Kira. As she reaches the mirror, Rachel raises her head. “Don’t they?” she adds in a hard voice as she stares at her unseen sister smug and triumphant. I win.

Siobhan is on the phone in the kitchen as Felix descends the stairs. “Absolutely not,” she snarls. “What part of this are you not understanding? N-No, you listen,” she insists more calmly as Fee quietly approaches, listening. “Amber Alert is not an option. If I say you are making a car bomb, you will bloody well make a car bomb.” She checks Fee over her shoulder and tells the caller she’ll call him back. I gotta say, I love how Siobhan is in command of these bad ass underground revolutionists. Speaks a lot to what she’s done that they are so ready to take and execute her orders. Fee archly asks about the call and Siobhan shakily replies it’s nobody he needs to know about. Before Fee can press, someone knocks forcefully on the front door. Siobhan glances over but removes a pistol from her waistband and chambers a round before going to the door. Fee follows behind slowly. Siobhan opens the door to Cal who casually says, “Hey, Mrs. S.?” Siobhan asks who he is. “I’m Cal. I’m Kira’s father.” He shrugs and bobs his eyebrows. Yeah, I know. Came as a surprise to me too. Siobhan tilts her head. You are shitting me.

Inside, Fee looks at Kira’s drawing of her clone aunties while Cal tells Siobhan that Kira called him that morning. “And when did she give you this?” she accuses. Fee wearily vouches for Cal. “After 8 years, you finally meet Kira’s dad and you don’t even tell me?” she shouts. “Oh yes, let’s do open a rollicking debate about keeping secrets!” Fee snaps back. HA! “Why don’t we?” Siobhan returns, but now Cal plays peacemaker. “Guys, guys, please, can you put the gun down?” Siobhan reluctantly puts the drawing on the coffee table and the gun near at hand on the mantle. Cal admits that Sarah never told him the whole clone story but he worked it out for himself. “Genetic identicals. Kira knows it too, even though she doesn’t really know what it means. I’m here to help; I did a lot of digging on Dyad.” “He’s handy that way,” Fee quips. “Is he,” Siobhan replies in a death voice. Fee’s Clone Phone rings before she can disembowel Cal. It’s Art. “I just came home to find someone at my table,” he tells Fee, adding, “she’s eating,” as a clue. Cut to Art in his apartment with Helena who stands in the open refrigerator door with a container of cereal clutched to her chest from which she’s chowing down. “Hello seestra brother,” she calls. “I want to see Sarah.” Siobhan hurries over as Fee swears, “holy shit. Helena’s back.” Siobhan quickly orders him not to tell Helena anything about Sarah. Fee checks that Art hasn’t already spilled the beans and he’s insulted Fee even has to ask. Siobhan wants Fee to go over to Art’s and run heard on Crazy Clone. “She is too unpredictable.” Fee tells Art to hold as he argues with Siobhan. Over on the couch, Cal keeps a wary eye on them as he powers up his laptop. Fee moans but agrees to go monitor Helena. “Just…keep feeding her, Art. I’m gonna be there as soon as I can.” Siobhan orders Fee not to let Helena out of his sight. Fee agrees and heads off. Call processes all the new info.

Back at the Dyad Gulag, a listless Sarah is led down a hall to the elevator by a guard. As the doors open, Ethan Duncan is revealed to be inside, also in scrubs and handcuffs, also under guard. Looks like Rachel is cleaning house with everyone this morning. Sarah perks up as she recognizes him; he’s just as surprised to see her. “Don’t despair, my dear,” he encourages as his guard leads him out and Sarah’s prods her in. “Don’t despair!” Puzzled, Sarah peers after him as he pulled away. As the doors close in front of her face, Duncan looks back at her one last time.

The kitchen block in Art’s apartment is strewn with the remnants of Helena’s glom. “I fell in love with a boy called Jesse,” she tells Art whose entire body language and expression say sure you did. “But after bar fighting, he had to go to war and become a tow-truck driver.” Fee stands on the opposite side of the room dressed all in black like he’s an extra in a Robert Palmer video. Or a guest on Sprokets. “Mmm-oh-kay,” he drawls. Art brings up the fire at the Prolethean Ranch the night before and asks if Helena knows anything about it. Helena coyly says no. “Helena?” Fee asks as he and Art switch places and Helena rumbles her lips. “Did you burn down the fish people’s ranch?” Heh. Helena grins wide and repeats “no.” She then demands to know when she’ll see Sarah. Fee promises it’ll be soon. “She said that Kira can’t wait to see you.” This soothes Helena. She tells the guys that after her heart was broken by Jesse, “I became roommates to a very good girl.” Art goes on alert and encourages her to tell them about that. “She had a crisis of fate,” Helena sighs.

Cut to Gracie and Mark driving along in one of the ranch’s SUVs. Mark assures her they can start fresh. Gracie wonders if she’s a sinner for wishing her father dead but Mark decides that Henrik deserved it. “God’s just gonna have to deal with the both of us then, isn’t he?” Gracie ventures. Mark vows that is the case, “because we’re together now.” He reaches for her hand, which Gracie slowly places in his. “That means the child inside you too,” he adds. They both smile tentatively.

Back at Siobhan’s, Cal has laid out a Venn diagram-like flow chart that he’s made about all the various players in the clone conspiracy. He explains that Dyad has these key people on dozens of corporate boards, which include Judge Smith, Senator Rahmstein, DannMorin Insurance Holdings Group, Trimorez Pharmaceutical Company, McBraddon Financial, Hudson Motors, and more I can’t make out because someone’s handwriting is a scrawl. “I’m talking super PACs and research groups and lobbyists,” Cal says, circling key groups on his chart. “All a concerted effort to try and affect biogenetic patent law,” Siobhan snaps. “I can use the Internet actually, Cal.” Amused, Cal scoffs at her. “No you can’t.” It entertains me greatly that he is so unafraid of Siobhan. He’s neither ruffled nor impressed even though he must have done his research on her. I mean, he knew her on sight without having ever met her before. Think it’s safe to say he knows pretty much all that’s available to know right now.

He tacks on “no offense” when Siobhan smiles thinly at him as though deciding where to put the bullet. “Well what have you ‘discovered’?” she asks tightly. He tells her it’s not what, it’s who. He explains how someone from Dyad tried to hack him, “so I hacked them back. I followed this person on the Darknet and I saw him asking the same questions as me.” Siobhan mocks him. “Jesus, you fell for that?” Cal insists the person had real information, “Project Leda. Clones. And they know I’m Kira’s father. I think this is an insider and high up too.” Siobhan worries that if “they” get to Cal, then they get to Kira. “They already have Kira,” he reminds her. Siobhan rubs her memory at the memory of how they got Kira in the first place. “And yet his person is still here,” Cal adds as he types in a query. Siobhan is shocked to realize he means the insider is on the Darknet at that moment. Insider’s handle is Swan 7 and Cal has asked if he can confirm, which Swan 7 does: Yes, Mother + child. Cal asks if Swan 7 can help. He and Siobhan anxiously wait for a reply until Siobhan finally tells him to tell Swan 7 that he’s with Siobhan Sadler. Cal talks what he writes, “With Shivan…” “It’s with a ‘bh’,” she corrects in a flat tone that screams git. Cal quirks a brow. “Whoops. Sorry about that.” He corrects and sends the message. I cackled over that interchange. They wait some more. Swan 7 finally replies: Ask her about Castor. Siobhan is visibly shaken to read that. Cal asks if it means anything to her. Slowly, she sits back down as her mind zooms through all the new implications. “Don’t know your mythology, do you Cal? Luckily, you’re not the only person with an inside man.” Oh, that is so going to be Paul. I mean, it almost has to be Paul, right?

For the record, Castor is one of the two twin sons of Leda (his brother is Pollux) and, as Wikipedia is so kind to inform us, Castor’s father was the mortal King of Sparta while Pollux was the son of Zeus, the king of the gods. How they had separate fathers and yet were twins is one of the wonders of Greek mythology. Throw in the fact that they are said to have also been born with twin sisters, Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra, and it’s all just party hardy in the womb.

In some suitably creepy warehouse garage, Siobhan waits for her meet to arrive. An army Hummer pulls up across from her and three soldiers in camouflage emerge. One soldier gestures for Siobhan to raise her arms so he can frisk her. Satisfied she’s unarmed, another soldier opens the back door of the Hummer. Paul gets out, fully tricked out in camouflage, complete with jaunty beret. Siobhan smiles with satisfaction. “Well,” she drawls, impressed, as Paul marches over to her. “I didn’t peg you for a major back at Professor Duncan’s house.” Paul allows that his rank is a new development. “A lot has changed since I came back in.” Siobhan quickly confirms that he’s still prepared to play double agent. “Like you, I want to know the truth,” he agrees. Siobhan admits to being impressed. Smiling sharply, Paul claims he’ll be impressed if Siobhan can pull this whole thing off. Oh ye of little faith. Siobhan offers him a cuppa while they wait and leads the way back to her truck where another thermos full no doubts waits.

Meanwhile, Duncan is enjoying Rachel’s black box home movie theatre. His daughter enters bearing a china tea set on a tray. Everything is so damned civilized, but then again, they are English. Today’s showing highlights Duncan reading to child Rachel from The Island of Doctor Moreau. “Suddenly I heard a thud and a hissing behind me and looking ‘round, I sprang to my feet with a cry of horror. Against the warm dawn, great tumultuous masses of black smoke were boiling up out of the enclosure and through their stormy darkness shot flickering threads of blood-red flame.” Rachel asks if he’s enjoying himself (he does appear to be doing so) and when he doesn’t answer, needlessly points out that she brought tea. He asks for only hot water. “I brought my own.” With this he removes a small billfold from his lapel pocket from which he takes a tea bag. It is not at all surprising to me that an Englishman carries around his own preferred tea. Apparently, this is no surprise to Rachel either. Never mind that after stripping and presumably scrubbing him, Dyad minions somehow allowed him to keep it.

As she pours his water and her tea, Rachel asks if Duncan remembers the day being played out on the film. “As often as possible,” he replies with fervor. Rachel points out it’s a day she’d never had experience had it not been for his synthetic sequences in the first place. “And yet, Martin tells me you’ve encoded them with a nonrepeating substitution cipher. Why would you deny existence to more of us? We’re you life’s work.” Duncan pauses then allows that he’s given Rachel the sequences solely to help Cosima. “Cure her and we’ll talk about unlocking another.” Rachel counters that if Duncan unlocks another, they’ll talk about curing Cosima. “Well, since none of us know what you’re for, I think your attempts to make new clones should meet with failure,” Duncan declares, for once not caging his words. Rachel baldly demands the key to his cipher. “I’ve had 20 years to work on it,” Duncan reminds her. “It’s rather good.” He slugs back his tea as Rachel, barely holding onto her temper, asks if the key is with Sarah’s people. Duncan remains unruffled as drinks. “My dear, I didn’t write it down. You know I can recite Pi to 6,000 places.” Show off. Rachel sighs and turns back to the home movie.

“Do you remember, not the memory, but the feeling, how much we loved you?” Duncan asks, tears in his voice. Rachel coldly admits that the reason she watches the tapes so often is that she doesn’t remember at all. Duncan begins to shake and sob. When he drops the china tea cup, Rachel realizes something is very wrong. “What have you done?” she gasps, lunging for her father. She takes the small case from his hand and opens it to reveal cyanide pills in the remaining tea bag. “My poor, poor Rachel,” Duncan moans. “NO!” Rachel screams, dropping to her knees before her father. She swats his shoulder as he repeats, “my poor, poor Rachel,” and demands to know why. Haltingly, he assures her his death won’t take long. Behind her, child Rachel smiles at Duncan. In the room, adult Rachel grabs Duncan’s shoulders and chants “no.” She grabs his face in her hands. “You can’t leave me again!” She smacks him and sobs, “don’t leave me again! Nooooo!” Crying, Duncan struggles to say, “I’m afraid you don’t deserve me anymore.” He begins to choke. Rachel cradles him to her and screams with hopeless despair. “MARTIN!” On screen, child Rachel and her father cuddle and giggle together.

Oh yeah. It’s not personal. Not at all.

Also Tatianna Maslany is a freaking bad ass of mad, crazy acting genius.

The door of the double-dealing warehouse garage rises. Eyeing the new arrivals, Paul dumps the last of his tea and passes the thermos top back to Siobhan. “So you know what I need, if this gets Sarah out of there,” he says in a hard voice. Clearly unhappy, Siobhan nods anyway. “I’m well aware.” A limo pulls up in between Siobhan’s truck and Paul’s Hummer. Cal gets out of the back and he’s already nodding. Paul goes just slightly more on alert. “This should be interesting,” Siobhan quips, gaze flickering between the two men. And how. As he joins them, Cal relates that “they” are willing. Siobhan introduces the men. “Paul meet Cal. He’s Kira’s father.” Cal replies with customary affability, “Hi Paul.” Paul chuckles sardonically, then ducks his head and shoots Siobhan a look. For her part, Siobhan watches Paul very carefully and without any amusement. Cal wonders what Paul finds so funny and then answers his own question. “Ah, you’re a friend of Sarah’s.” And by “friend” he absolutely means “lover”. Cal and Paul size each other up. “Just look at the two of you,” Siobhan drawls before they pull out rulers and get to measuring. “I don’t know how she does it.” Cal gives her A LOOK—yes you do—and then without a word, strides to the limo. Cal asks Siobhan what’s happening. “We are hoping there’s still good people in the most corrupt places,” she replies. I enjoyed that scene probably more than I should have.

Paul climbs inside the limo and settles in next to …Marion. Dun dun DUN! “You,” she says as she recognizes him. “The monitor. Paul Dierden.” Paul is equally nonplussed. “Yeah, I think I know who you are.” She acknowledges that they’re both willing to risks themselves to get to the bottom of the conspiracy. “Castor,” Paul offers without preamble. He sets terms: “You guarantee that Sarah and her daughter will be released and protected.” Marion assures him she can get them out, but the rest is up to Sarah. She holds out her hand with expectation; after a moment’s consideration, Paul places a red folder in it. The deal has been struck. Marion immediately reads the file and frowns.

OK, for clarity’s sake, because I didn’t get this the first time around, this all means Paul has been a double agent for the army this entire time. He went undercover with the Dyad to be Beth’s monitor way before Sarah ever made the scene. The whole Afghanistan incident was likely made up as part of his back stop to give the Dyad leverage over him and make him believable. When Siobhan confronted him outside Professor Duncan’s house, he went back in from the cold, which is why Rachel hasn’t been able to locate him since. He agreed to be Siobhan’s inside man with the army just as Marion has turned out to be Cal’s inside man with Dyad out of his own need to get to the bottom of things and due to residual feelings and loyalty to Sarah (that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.) Now he and Siobhan have made a deal so that he and Marion can trade intel in exchange for Sarah and Kira’s release.

In the Very Pink Room, Auntie Cosima is spending time with Kira. They are both on the monitors, being observed by someone. She asks if Kira likes her new, frilly, no doubt expensive dolls. In a miserable voice, Kira admits she doesn’t. Kira draws and colors while Cosima regroups…and coughs. “Um, you wanna do some science?” she asks. Kira perks up. “Science class?” She leaps up on the bed with a wide smile. “Yeah, it’s my favorite. Pure science.” Cosima chortles. “You wanna do it?” She holds up a piece of paper and tells Kira they’re going to do an experiment. “I want you to try and push your favorite pencil through this piece of paper.” She does and instead, the tip of the pencil breaks off. “Oops,” Cosima chimes. “How come that didn’t work? You need more…force,” she says, flexing her arm.

It’s time for a science montage! Down in the SSC, Cosima and Scott work to put together a contraption, which involves a sharpened pencil. Their efforts are interspersed with Cosima and Kira’s science lesson as they work the problem in full view of their monitors. “Force equal mass times acceleration,” Cosima explains, jazzing the lesson up with adorable gestures and sound effects. “How can we get this pencil through this paper?” Kira posits that they need to make the pencil sharper and Cosima high-fives her for the good idea. In the SCC, Cosima messes with the fire extinguisher and Scott saws a piece of rubber tubing. In the Very Pink Room, Cosima suggests she and Kira give acceleration a shot. In the SCC, Scott and Cosima work on sawing a metal tube to specifications. In the Very Pink Room, Kira jabs the pencil at the paper with a fast thrust and successfully breaks through. Downstairs, Cosima checks the sharpness of her own pencil. “You won the experiment,” Cosima cheers with Kira, adding another high-five for good measure. “You won science! You’re a scientist now!” Yay! Kira giggles. “You want to make a picture for your mom?” Cosima asks. Kira is game. “OK, maybe we can explain to her what we learned today.”

In the SSC, Cosima reaches for duct tape—and loses her grip and her balance. With effort, she lowers to the floor. Scott lunges over to help and gently chides her. Cos insists she’s OK. “Cosima, it’s not going to work,” Scott gently warns. Cos struggles to stand as she insists it has to work. “She needs us.” Scott supports her, but Cosima can’t manage to stand and instead goes back down to the floor clinging to Scott. He takes the Dyad ID tag from his pocket and holds it up between them. “Let me do this.” She frowns at the tag. “Where did you get that?” He ignores her. “We’re only gonna get one chance.”

Florescent light flicks on in the pitch black room where Sarah lies asleep on a stretcher. Faceless medical minions enter and transfer her to a new stretcher. Sarah can’t help but struggle despite her determination to submit and trade herself for Kira. They silently bind her arms to the stretcher even as she repeatedly asks what they’re doing. “Why are you doing this?” she cries as they wheel her into an operating theatre. “OK, here she comes,” a woman calls. They transfer Sarah to the operating table as the medical personal coolly proceed with their preparations. Terrified, Sarah struggles against them to no avail. Nealon enters, all scrubbed up and in and ready to go. Unnoticed, one of the doctors releases one of Sarah’s restraints. She looks up into Scott’s eyes, the only part of him visible behind the surgical mask, hat, and gown he’s hiding behind. “Cosima says ‘hey’,” he tells her. “We’re gonna help you get out of here, just—” but he cuts off as Nealon strolls up behind him.

“What is this?” Sarah asks because she wants to know and also because she wants to distract Nealon from dwelling on anything he might have just heard. But there’s less terror in her voice now she knows there’s a plan…and she’s not alone. “We’re performing an oophorectomy,” he announces. Aaaand the terror returns. When she asks, he explains to Sarah that it means they’re removing one of her ovaries for research. “Bullshit, you are!” Sarah spits with glimpses of her old fire. “That’s not what I signed.” As he gowns up, Nealon idly assures her she’ll still retain one. “We don’t wish to render you infertile.” How kind. “On the contrary, I hope you look forward to another pregnancy as much as we do.” Spoken by a man who will never, ever have to know what it’s like to be pregnant. Sarah exchanges looks with Scott who silently directs her to look down. Before she can, Rachel makes an entrance and asks for a moment to speak with her sister. Nealon clears the room but orders everyone to stay prepped. Scott exchanges worried looks with Sarah, but he’s no choice but to comply or give the whole thing away.

Smug and triumphant, Rachel comes to stand right next to the table and holds up Kira’s drawing. “Kira gave me something for you,” she says. On the page, Kira has drawn herself and Cosima along with the fire extinguisher. Sarah looks at the picture and shakes her head at Rachel. “You psycho.” Rachel tosses the picture on the instrument table next to Sarah. “She also gave her bone marrow to Cosima,” she says, holding up the test tubes Martin’s minions took from the Sweet Science Crib. As she steps away, Sarah stares at the picture and tries to understand its message. “Duncan is dead,” Rachel informs her flatly. This surprises Sarah. “He took his own life,” Rachel continues in that same emotionless tone, “but I know he gave you the key to his synthetic sequences, didn’t he?” Sarah looks over the edge of her table. “What key?” she asks absently as she notices the fire extinguisher that has been rigged as a projectile with the metal tube Scott cut earlier. Dangling from its lever is a tag on which is drawn as skull and crossbones and the word SQUEEZE.

Rachel doesn’t believe Sarah doesn’t have Duncan’s code key. She holds out the test tubes. “Rachel, I don’t know,” Sarah begs desperately. “No?” Rachel calmly repeats. She angrily slams the tubes one by one to shatter on the floor, stomping on the glass so that her feet are splashed with Kira’s blood and bone marrow. Her face contorts with rage as she takes a few steps back toward Sarah. One foot slides through the smeared matter. “Enjoy your oophorectomy,” she sneers. Ooooh. This is her doing, a petty revenge against the only clone sister (so far) who can reproduce and thus, in her mind, continue to thwart and outshine Rachel. “We will continue this when you’re done,” she promises, stalking out of the operating theatre. Sarah glances down at the rigged extinguisher and sees how the tube extends to where it’s taped under the instrument table, ending in a small muzzle. “Rachel,” she calls. Rachel turns around. “I’ll tell you.” This pleases her sister. “Where is it?” Rachel demands as returns to Sarah’s side. “Where has he written it?” Sarah reaches for the lever. “Right here,” she gasps. She pulls the trigger and Cosima’s sharpened pencil shoots through the air into Rachel’s eye. Thwap! Wow. Turns out, the pencil is mightier than the sword.

Rachel falls to the floor screaming and writhing in pain. Sarah keeps an eye on her as she strips off her remaining wrist restraint. Scott runs back in and helps Sarah free her feet. Unsure whether to trust him, Sarah crawls back up the stretcher. He holds out the Dyad ID tag. “Go,” he orders. “Get Kira!” She takes the card and runs off. Scott joins the other medical person who couches next to the screaming Rachel. I gather they ran in together and Scott took advantage of the first person’s distraction to free Sarah. Sure. Why not? Rachel stops screaming and seems to twitch into unconsciousness, possibly death. I mean, that pencil went in deep.

Sarah rushes through the Dyad without being saccosted. Using the Dyad tag, she opens the door to the Very Pink Room and runs inside…to find Marion getting Kira ready for travel. “I was just about to get you,” she says to Sarah as she yanks Kira from the bed and holds her close. “You’re free to go; you don’t have to run,” Marion promises. Sarah frowns at Marion, clearly confused, which isn’t surprising considering moments ago she was seconds away from having her reproductive organ harvested against her will. “I’m very impressed by you, Sarah, both by you and your mother,” Marion admires as she calmly sits on Kira’s bed. Sarah demands to know who she is and Marion introduces herself, “I’m with Topside. I’ve opened the doors, but this does not end with Rachel,” she warns. Without another word, Sarah moves to leave, but Marion calls her back. “If you ever want to stop running, if you want the truth, if you want to know what this is really all about, then you meet me tomorrow, hmm? Cal can arrange it; he’s downstairs waiting to take you home to your sisters.” Sarah doesn’t speak, nor even blink at the information that Cal is involved in the night’s events, but merely gathers up a glaring Kira and leaves. The door slowly closes on Marion standing mildly by in the Very Pink Room.

At Fee’s Fun Flat, Cal takes his leave, having met Alison and Cosima who have joined Sarah at FFF. “Well, tonight was certainly informative,” he allows. “Later Cal,” Cosima calls as she grins at them. Sarah asks her sisters to give her five minutes to say goodbye. He somewhat solemnly tells Cosima it was nice to meet her. She waves. Sarah glances at Alison who mouths “he’s hot!” and Cosima agrees with an A-Ok sign of her fingers. Sarah rolls her eyes and closes the door behind her and Cal. “Well that’s us,” she says to him. “It’s a pretty standard group of sisters,” he decides. “Yeah, I think so,” Sarah agrees. He tells her he’s going to be around, “I wanna help with Kira and getting the marrow and stuff.” Sarah expositions that it’ll be another six weeks before Kira is able to donate again. “So I don’t know what’s gonna happen to Cosima,” she admits on a shaky breath. Cal grimaces and steps up to stroke her cheek in comfort. “I’m sorry about that.” She thanks him for whatever he did to get Marion Bowles to help them. He waves it off. “I’m not doing this for thanks. I’m doing it because I need—” Sarah cuts him off by the tried and true method of kissing him.

They quietly make out as Felix arrives and climbs the stairs. “Oh hello,” he teases and they break apart, smiling. “Steamy potatoes.” Cal raises a brow at him. “Hey.” Fee studies Kira’s father. “Cal? You’re not going to be bringing all that game into my bed, I hope.” Sarah snickers as Cal says he unfortunately will not be doing that. Which is good since Paul’s already claimed Fee’s bed as his spot for…gaming. “It’s, ah, clones only tonight,” he tells Fee. “I know. That means me too,” Fee preens without rancor. Yes it does, darling. He departs and Fee turns to Sarah with an admittedly crazy idea. “Art has someone downstairs who really wants to meet her sisters.” Now that she’s not, you know, trying to assassinate all of them.

Cosima looks up from where she sits on the couch as the door to Fee’s Fun Flat drags open. Fee enters first and then moves aside to reveal a tentative Helena who leans her bag against the wall by the door. Sarah brings up the rear as Fee helps Cosima to stand. “Helena, this is your sister Cosima.” Helena quietly tells Cosima she should not be up. “I’m up,” Cosima counters and she immediately reaches out to embrace this last of the clone sisters. When she pulls back, she tells Helena she’s very beautiful. “Thank you. I like your hairs,” Helena replies. Alison is framed between and upstage from them. Cosima chuckles. “I like your hairs too.” Fee steps into the gap between Helena and Cosima and Alison. “Helena? This is your other sister, Alison.” Tense and unsure, Alison yet steps ups to join her sisters. “Lovely to meet you,” she says sincerely. “Pleased to meet you too,” Helena replies, which makes Cosima chuckle as she sits on the arm of the sofa. Fee rejoins Sarah who silently watches this coming together of her sisters. Helena asks if Alison is married. “Oh yes, very much so, to Donnie,” Alison twitters in reply. “I will be married too someday,” Helena intones. And won’t that be one hell of a ceremony. Run, Jesse, run! Alison tells her marriage is very rewarding if a couple can make it through the rough patches.

“Auntie Helena!” Kira calls. The three sisters all turn toward the child with varying degrees of delight. Kira runs over and throws herself into Helena’s arms. Helena lifts her up off the floor and they hug it out as the rest of the clones and Fee looks on, touched by the heart-warming display. “We thought you ran away from us,” Kira accuses. “I came back to see your little face,” Helena replies. Kira holds up her hand in the way that she and Helena first did through the glass panes of Mrs. S.’s front door back in season one. Helena glances at her little hand and then raises hers to match it. Even Alison has to smile in the face of their genuine affection for one another. “I am so happy to see you, I’m going to eat your fingers,” Helena whispers. Careful. With Helena, she may mean that literally. Instead, she playfully gnaws on Kira’s fingers, snorting as the child giggles. “She all right?” Fee asks Sarah sotto voce. “Yeah,” Sarah replies softly.

Cosima sets the needle down on Fee’s vinyl album and deliberately removes her oxygen tube. A reggae rhythm plays out from the turn table. Oh my giddy aunt, it’s a Clone Dance Party! One by one, the clone sisters start to dance with Fee moving between them, at one point coaxing Alison up to mime spanking him as he twerks. Each one of the clones as her own unique style of dancing that flawlessly reflects their personalities. This scene is a master class feat of technical and acting prowess. Even Kira perks up from where she sits on the bed platform to join in the fun. Sarah is all street bobs and weaves, Cosima fluidly flows in and out of movements. Alison tightly bounces along with Felix. Helena gets her Ally Sheedy on and head bangs away in her Prolethean prairie dress, which makes the others laugh.

As dawn peeps in through the windows, Helena rouses from the bed she’s made among Fee’s paintings. Alison presumably went home. Sarah wakes in Fee’s bed with Cosima (not like that!), who’s already awake. I’m guessing Fee’s on the couch with Kira or one or the other is bedding on the floor. Sarah sleepily asks what Cosima is thinking about. “Oh, Buckminster Fuller and sacred geometry,” she quietly replies. Doesn’t everyone? Pulling back her sleeve to show her spiral shell tattoo, she explains that it represents the Golden Ratio, a mathematical pattern that repeats itself in nature, “in flower petals and honeybees and, you know, the stars in the galaxy and in every molecule of our DNA.” Sarah looks at her sister with wonder. “God, we’re so different all of us,” she marvels. Cosima agrees. That could be the theme statement for this show. “I don’t even know how to look at art,” Sarah confess. Cosima laughs as Sarah adds “don’t tell Fee.” Cosima promises she won’t. Unnoticed, Helena pulls on her coat and edges toward the door.

Cos holds up her arm again. “You’re the wild type, Sarah,” she says. “You propagate against all odds. You’re…restless. You survive.” Sarah slowly raises her arm to entwine it with Cosima’s and press her spread hand against hers as Helena and Kira did earlier. “I can’t do this without you, Cosima,” Sarah whispers tearfully. Cosima promises it’ll be fine. “We just have to keep moving forward.” “Forward through the looking glass with Marion bloody Bowles,” Sarah snarks, wiping her eyes clear. Cosima shrugs. “What could go wrong?”

Still unobserved, Helena quietly lifts the large canister of nitrogen she took from the Prolethean Ranch out of her bag and sets it aside before slipping out of Fee’s Fun Flat. She closes the door to the Gallerie Rimbaud behind her as she steps into the hallway. Tugging Jesse’s cap from her bag, Helena lifts it to her nose to sniff lovingly. In the next moment, a bag is thrust over her head as two men abduct her. She puts up a mean fight as usual, but her resistance dies when one of the thugs Tasers her in the neck. They carry her down the steps leaving the dropped Jesse’s Towing ball cap behind on the floor. How many times is this woman going to get kidnapped?!

Later the next day, Sarah rides in Marion’s limo and is delivered to a remote mansion outside the city. She takes a moment outside the front door to take it all in.

Back at Fee’s Fun Flat, Kira climbs onto the bed platform to wake Cosima. She doesn’t respond. Kira urges her to wake. A glow washes over Cosima’s face. Slowly, her her her eyelids raise, but instead of the child, she see a glowing visage of Delphine. “Don’t be afraid,” Angel Delphine whispers. She strokes Cos’ cheek. “I will never leave you,” she promises. The glow slowly fades to reveal that it’s Kira who’s stroking Cosima’s cheek. Kira smiles as she greets her niece. “Will you read me a story?” Kira asks, handing over a storybook.

Sarah lets herself into Marion’s mansion. No one replies when she calls hello, so she makes her way in. She spies a little girl down the hall who, giggling, dodges into another room. “You hiding?” Sarah teases. The clack of heels announces Marion’s arrival. “Charlotte,” she calls with affection. “It’s Sarah.” As if this is supposed to mean something. “Don’t be shy, love. Come on,” Marion gently urges. Charlotte emerges to stand before them and Sarah’s face goes blank with shock. The girl is the same actress who plays Rachel as a child, which means she is a younger version of the clone sisters. She also is wearing a leg brace. “You know her,” Marion whispers. Sarah crouches before the child. “You’re my big sister,” Charlotte says. When Sarah asks how old Charlotte is, the child responds that she’s eight. “I have a daughter your age,” Sarah observes. “Kira,” Charlotte acknowledges after an asking glance for Marion. “I’m her cousin.” Marion leans forward to clarify that technically, Charlotte is Kira’s aunt, “but we’re going with cousin for now.” She holds her hand out to Charlotte. “Come.” Smiling, Charlotte takes her hand and, as Sarah watches with stunned incomprehension, Marion and Charlotte playfully walk on through the house.

Back at Fee’s Fun Flat, Cosima finishes reading from A Dog Comes Too. “So the puppy followed the explorer that whole way?” Kira asks. Cosima mmm hmms confirmation and agrees that it’s cool. Kira asks to read another and this time she pulls out the copy of The Island of Doctor Moreau that Duncan gave her. Cosima chuckles at the sight of it. “It’s about a man who makes monsters,” Kira informs her, but Cosima already knows that. “I love this book.” Kira whispers that it’s special and Cosima smiles at her indulgently, but when she opens it, she realizes what Kira means. “Where did you get this book?” she asks. “Professor Duncan gave it to me for a present,” Kira replies innocently, reaching over to help Cosima turn the pages. She flips through the book with rising excitement as she begins to realize what Duncan has left them.

At the mansion, Sarah watches Charlotte play with a tour plane. “So you’re her monitor,” she says to Marion who counters that she’s Charlotte’s mother. “You carried her?” Sarah clarifies. “Adopted her,” Marion allows. “Like Siobhan, I’m invested,” she adds. “I thought they couldn’t make any more of us,” Sarah whispers, moved by Charlotte’s existence. Equally touched by the moment, Marion confirms that there were 400 attempts to make more clones and Charlotte the only one who survived. “But you survived too, Sarah. Against all odds, you found your sisters and you fought for your own.” Marion admits she’s counting on Sarah’s fierce loyalty now, “because what I am about to share could put me at grave personal risk.”

They walk through the house as Marion updates her on Topside’s position. “You won’t find Topside in any corporate directory. We…steer the Dyad Group with many other multinationals.” Sarah sums it all up: “You’re a cabal,” and to her credit, Marion doesn’t waste any time denying it. “Yes, securing a monopoly on a future that embraces genetic engineering, synthetic biology—a future I passionately believe is inevitable.” Sarah notes that if they don’t profit from it someone else will and again, Marion agrees this time with a degree of surprise, “but it’s not only about profit.” She reveals that there are other forces at work beyond Topside and that she had evidence of another agenda but couldn’t verify it without Siobhan’s help. She asks Sarah to follow her further into the mansion.

Handcuffed but not hooded, Helena is on a transport truck surrounded by soldiers in fatigues. So Paul’s the one who snatched her. Sarah is not going to like that at all. Helena disembarks with the soldiers at an air field. In the background, a large cargo plane waits, ramp down. Two lines of soldiers form a guarded aisle down which Helena is herded.

At the mansion, Marion leads the way down a spiral staircase. Wary, Sarah slowly follows. As they walk, Marion informs Sarah that the military never cancelled Project Leda. “It was compartmentalized into two autonomous operations. While the Dyad carried female clones to term, the military faction carried the males.” Sarah slows to a near stop as she sees where they’re headed. Ahead of her, Marion stops in front of their destination. The windows are shrouded with gauzy curtains. “This is Project Castor.” Sarah steps up to the reinforced glass door to a cell. Inside, a shirtless man with a Mohawk does a series of chin-ups with showing signs of tiring. He drops down and turns around. Sarah gasps as she recognizes him. “I know him,” she whispers. Marion’s head jerks toward Sarah as she frowns. She did not expect to hear that. Please oh please don’t let it be Paul. I mean, yeah, multiple versions of Hot Paul would be, well, seriously hot, but no. Just no.

Back at the air field, Helena is herded past a truck next to which sits the Hummer where Paul and Siobhan watch the proceedings. “Sarah will never forgive me for this,” Siobhan realizes. “You did what you had to,” Paul reassures her, though he doesn’t sound or look like he’s any happier about it than she is. No doubt he realizes Siobhan isn’t the only one Sarah will have a hard time forgiving for this.

In a church somewhere, Gracie and Mark get married. Come on! Why are we wasting time with these two when they’ve already served their purpose? Go off and have clone babies already.

Back at the air field, Helena is led up the ramp past the guards including one who looks exactly like Mark! OH HOLY SHIT! So that’s why we’re still wasting time with Mark and Gracie. Not only is she carrying clone babies, but he is actually a clone too! Holy crap. Only Helena knows that Gracie was impregnated with her fertilized eggs and she’s being carted off to Castor Gulag. Neither Gracie nor Mark know the first things about Dyad or Project Castor. Did Henrik know this all along? He never actually came out and said he was the father, did he? Did he fertilize Helena’s eggs with his sperm or did he use Mark’s? If he knew about Mark’s clone lineage all this time, wouldn’t making test tube children from the combined DNA of a male and a female clone be the ultimate reproductive miracle?!

Owwwwww. My head hurts again.

Back in the mansion, MarkClone sidles up to the glass to stare back at the gaping Sarah. It brings the season full circle as the first thing was Mark and Sarah across the table from each other at the diner. MarkClone’s back is marked with fresh bruises. A scar rips down his right cheek. He grins manically at Sarah and breathes heavily fogging up the glass as he punches it, revved up by the mere sight of her. Clearly, he knows who she is even as his existence is a complete surprise to her. Clearly, there’s a new Crazy Clone in town.

End credits.

Nest year: Season 3!

Kiersten Hallie Krum writes smart, sharp & sexy romantic suspense. Find her snarking her way across social media as @kierstenkrum and on her web site and blog at www.kierstenkrum.com.

Good synopsis. This episode definately showed us a lot about Cal, which has been lacking of any real info. He's not afraid of anyone, laid back, definately smart, and except for the suspicious eyeing of Felix's and Shiobhan's Helena conversation (S3 twist?), a pretty great person. I also loved the interchange between Cal and Paul way too much. It was light and funny and I personally think showed the immaturity of Paul and coolness of Cal. All points on that one to Cal. And loved that little Kira smiled when her dad answered the phone. How cute are they?

Glad they chose Mark as the clone and glad that Cosima is still alive. Lots of closure and lots of new questions to answer next season... Great episode.

Thank you for another season of incredible Orphan Black recaps/reviews. They are, by far, my favorite to read. How are we going to get through the next 10 months without this wonderful, crazy show?
I loved how characters came together in the finale- Siobhan (with a BH!) and Cal brokering a deal between Paul and Marian to secure Sarah & Kira's release, Cosima and Scott involving Kira to pull off their plan, and Helena finally meeting Cosima and Allison and them all dancing it out. I loved meeting Charlotte. It instantly added layers to Marian and made her a bit sympathetic/trust-worthy (or at least benefit of the doubt worthy). I really want a scene next season with Marian and Siobhan, preferably also with Sarah and Charlotte (and Kira- those kids could use a friend).
My heart broke for Felix at the beginning of the episode, when he was blaming himself, and having to hear his sister and Siobhan going at it like that. When Sarah grabbed Siohban to hug her instead of punching something or slamming out the door, which may have a more typical or obvious response, I just about gasped. It was so much better and spoke much better to the sheer complexity of that relationship. Sarah is understandably unsure of Siobhan right now, given all the secrets and half truths and even lies she's been getting from her. But she was still able to dig through all that and latch onto something she knew unshakably- that Siobhan had always and would always put Kira first. And I think Sarah needed that anchor in that moment as much as Siobhan needed to see that Sarah understood that and trusted at least that much. And of course Siobhan proceeds to do just that- go to any lengths to protect Kira. And Sarah. Even if that means selling out her daughter's twin sister. This is an interesting set up for next season. Will she try to bury this secret, as she has so many others? Or will she try something different and come clean early on?
I think the additional of the make clones was a logical progression, and I'm intrigued about Marc being one of them. I just hope that this doesn't take away too much time/focus from Sarah/Alison/Cosima/Helena and the other original characters we're invested in. We only get 10 episodes, after all.
One other small moment that I loved- Rachel rolling her eyes at her father's reminder that he could recite pi to 6,000 places. Rachel is always so above and better than it all, so exceptional, and rolling your eyes at your dad or mom is such a typical kid thing to do. It made me wonder if there was still a "real" person in there, waiting to be remembered and rediscovered. And it made me laugh. Of course the rest of her actions just made me want to punch her. Or stick a pencil in her eye. Oh wait...

This season was so good! I loved the Charlotte reveal and the Mark reveal. I think I have a small crush on Scott, he seems to be one of the only good people on the show other then Art who is in this without any other motives. I missed the part where Paul was a double agent with Project Caster to spy on Leida, thanks for laying that out.

@Kiersten: wonderful recap as always. Love your humor and attention to detail. Thank you for your hard work all season. I would miss things without your recaps. The links are great.

Scenes I really liked:
Mrs. S/Sarah argument and hug: Like last episode where we finally got to see why Donnie/Alison are a couple, this episode showed the loving & complex mother/daughter relationship between Mrs. S and Sarah.

The Clone reunion and dance party: It was a sweet break in an intense episode. Alison should have brought her kids to play with Kira. The cousins should get to know each other now.

Helena dancing: One word --- Wow.

Oddly, my heart tore (slightly) for Rachel when she told Duncan that she watches the videos because she doesn't remember. Dyad and Dr. Leekie made her this way. Burried deep in inside of her is a scared, angry little girl who was taken from a loving home.

@LondynNow: What ever "real" person that was inside Rachel died when Duncan drank his tea. At least next season we may get Eye Patch Rachel. Male clones are the next logical step in this story. It will be interesting to see where they go with it. I wish Ari Millen the best. Tatiana Maslany is an amazing actress. He has to be equally amazing to hang with her.

@Kiersten: I don't think Rachel is dead. Like Helena, she has nine lives---and no soul.

@minime2: I agree. Orphan Black is an incredible show. The writing, acting, directing & production is the best I've seen in a genre program. What am I going to watch from now until 2015? The wait is already killing me.

@Babs: I too loved how the finale brought everything together and created new plots for season three.

@Kiersten, your excellent recaps from these past two seasons have been fun to read and they helped to fill in some of the scenes I didn't fully pick on.

I feel sorry for Rachel because she didn't choose the life she's living. She was, as Marian said, *bred into it*. To me it's as tho a little 8yr. old girl bubbles to the surface for just an instant every time she would watch the videos of her as a child with her parents. And most especially when she had to watch her father commit suicide right in front of her. It's probably safe to say that once she regained herself, any anguish she felt over her fathers death just intensified her hate towards Sarah. And I'm sure that the driving force behind Rachel's hate towards Sarah is the fact that Sarah can give birth and she can't. It takes away from her sense of what Cosima called elitism. She may have all the privileges that an elitist can have, but she is no different than the others in that she is barren while this un-monitored tramp is fertile. I can't see her dying, also, who would take her place as Sarah's main adversary.

As for Marion Bowles, isn't she a surprise. Here I was calling her and Rachel Dyad's diabolical duo. And if Rachel does live, will there be any repercussions for letting Sarah escape.

If Paul was a double agent who infiltrated Project Leida for Castor, does that mean he knew that Beth was a clone. And if so, was his wanting to take her to Rio, was that sincere? Seems to me if he had done that and he was still military, even if it was undercover, it would have been desertion. It was fun to see Cal and Paul size each other up. Paul is military, he follows orders, Cal is his own person, he decides what he wants to do. For that reason I side with Cal. I'm glad he got to meet the sisters, it's just too bad Helena wasn't there with them.

What does Paul and Project Castor want with Helena, anyway. And does anybody besides Henrik (RIP, not)know that Helena is a genetic mirror? I don't think anyone knows that she's pregnant, also. And what's in that nitrogen cannister, could it be Helen's eggs.

My favorite scene was when Felix brought Helena in and introduced her to her sisters and Cosima got up and gave her a hug. I'm sure she's aware that she was the one responsible for the deaths of their other sisters but she forgave her. I don't know that you can say the same for Alison. She seemed apprehensive, like she knew about her past and wasn't quite ready to forgive her. I really would like to see Helena reunited with her sisters again next season. Which is just around the corner, I wish.

This Topside group reminds me of the Bilderberg group. A behind the scenes group of very powerful people who direct multi-national corporations. Who is this person or group that has Paul and Marion so concerned. Hopefully we'll get a lead on that next year.

And now we have male clones, MarkClones. For me, military and male clones can only mean one thing, super soldier. Maybe a soldier with the healing abilities of Kira not to mention her remarkable sense of instinct, and awareness.We even have a male clone, who I'm pretty sure is not self aware, married to a girl who is carrying a clone baby. Sometimes this show makes my mind spin.

I'm sure Tony will make an apperance next year, after all, Felix didn't give him a phone for no reason.

This show has been such a mindbending blast, I'd like to say I can't wait for Season 3 but I can. Counting days or weeks or even months almost makes it longer than it seems. Besides, I have Seasons 1 and 2 to rewatch when I want. I've already watched all episodes from both seasons a couple times and I didn't lose any interest at all. This show is captivating and add Tatiana Maslany to the mix and it is one of the best tv series I have watched in a very long time. I am so glad I can get BBC America online along with Showcase too, I might add.

I forgot to add yesterday that my other fav thing was Felix and Alison dancing. Alison was so awkward while she was spankin that a$$.

Also, I'm now realizing that during the bar scene a few episodes back, with Paul and Mark tracking Sarah/Helena, Paul knew Mark was a clone.

@lonewolf: Helena's pregnancy and frozen eggs may have a major role in season three. I agree with your super soldier idea. The military may want to breed Helena with Mark. Helena may submit to this since she would want to protect the child/children she is currently carrying.

Dyad wanted to breed Sarah also. The creep doctor say he hopes she would look forward to her next prenancy.

Season three has to have a square off between Rachel and Marion. Rachel will not take Marion's betrayal lightly. This would be the second time she was betrayed by someone she trusted at Dyad. I'm picturing full on Eye Patch Rachel Hulk smash.

So now I'm wondering why Paul was so shocked to learn that Sarah wasn't Beth and the whole clone revelation. Either the showwriters didnt know Paul was going to prove to be undercover (and I just can't believe that) or Paul wasnt given all the clone details, he was just set up and assigned to be hired/manipulated by Dyad to be Beth's monitor. I like that scenario better b/c if he knew about the clones from the start, much of his journery in season one and a *lot* of his interactions & motivations with Sarah don't work anymore at all. It's make sense that military intelligence wouldn't have given him all the details about Project Castor until *after* he came in from the cold already with the knowledge about the female clones and they read him in about Mark then. This would also mean he did not know Mark was a clone in the bar scene. Only after he makes the deal for Sarah's freedom and returns to meet with Siobhan in uniform can we assume that Paul knows all about Project Castor and the Mark clone. That is when he first says "Castor" to Marion too and makes more sense for the timeline of his character within the entire series and not just this season.

@Kiersten, it's like you said, the military may have known or did know about the clones but didn't tell Paul about them. But Miltitary Intelligence probably told him to keep his eyes open for something. If he wasn't told about the sisters then he most certainly didn't know about Mark being a clone. Not until he came back in.

So how exactly did this deal between Paul and Siobhan work for Sarah's and Kira's release. Was Cal a middle man between Marion and Siobhan. Did Siobhan tell Cal that Paul would meet with Marion if she can get Sarah and Kira released and give her intel on Project Castor. Cal did arrive with Marion when everyone met at the warehouse. How did Marion come to have a Mark clone at her estate, also. Things we'll have to wait a lifetime to find out. At least that's what it feels like already.

@stacymd2, we all thought Leekie was a baddie, that Dr. Nealon makes Leekie look like Dr. Seuss. I'm glad Sarah got out of there when she did. I was wondering tho, if Nealon had been able to harvest some of Sarah's eggs, how would they have fertilized them. Was Nealon going to pull a Henrik. And speaking of Henrik, who else besides him knew that Helena was what he called a *mirror.* And right now the canister with Helena's eggs are at Fee's. I'm hoping that with what Cosima has found in Professor Duncan's book she'll be able to come up with a cure for herself. Maybe Helena's eggs will have something to do with it. Whatever the case may be, I hope she doesn't die on us. And there will most certainly be a knock down, drag out, fight between Rachel and Marion. What will losing an eye do to Rachel's psyche. She had one wild look in her eyes when she was talking to Sarah, I guess she'll have an even wilder look in her one eye now. I wonder if she'll get a designer eye patch ;) My favorite during the sisters dance was when Alison was slapping Fee on his butt, also. She's just a little to conservative for that bunch.

I know we have not been given the complete story on Cal yet. Why did he have a camper hidden somewhere with a barn right there to hide his truck. Plus fake ID's, what is that all about. He was all set up to hit the road in a hurry if he had to. Could his situation be military related also.

And speaking of barns, I think that's all that Helena torched, along with Henrik, of course. And maybe Alexis, she didn't like her very much at all. But I think the others were not harmed. Helena, I think, is starting to show reverence (does that word fit?) for life rather than taking it. You still don't want to piss her off, tho. I'm betting she escapes and finds her seestra again. And Toni will be back, Fee didn't give him a clone phone for no reason. I think the sisters will need him or vice-versa at some point.

I love this show, it's the best to come along for quite some time. There is another show that I love, too. I just hope the writers get their stuff together and maybe return the show to what it was that made *it* the great show that it was for a season and a half.

Lastly, @Kiersten, I noticed while watching the opening credits that there is a producer whose last name is Nealon. Is this how Dr. Nealon got his last name, do you know. Just curious.

Hey Guys! FYI...Orphan Black was nonminated in five categories for the 2014 Directors Guide of Canada Awards. (Gala on Saturday 10/25 in Toronto) Six nominations in total. I think this year and next Orphan Black will be winning a lot of awards.